{"id":74169,"date":"2020-04-20T11:10:23","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T11:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/?p=74169"},"modified":"2020-04-20T11:10:23","modified_gmt":"2020-04-20T11:10:23","slug":"commonly-confused-prepositions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/commonly-confused-prepositions\/","title":{"rendered":"Commonly Confused Prepositions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Though the <a href=\"http:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/what-are-prepositions\/\">prepositions<\/a> are small words, they are very important ones, and their correct usage is a test of your mastery of the language. This article explains the correct usage of some prepositions that often cause confusion.<\/p>\n<h3>Beside and besides<\/h3>\n<p>Students often get confused about the meaning and usage of these two words.\u00a0<b>Beside<\/b>\u00a0means \u2018by the side of\u2019 and\u00a0<b>besides<\/b>\u00a0means \u2018in addition to\u2019.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The house was\u00a0<b>beside\u00a0<\/b>the river. (= by the side of the river)<\/li>\n<li>He stood\u00a0<b>beside\u00a0<\/b>me. (= by my side)<\/li>\n<li>He plays tennis\u00a0<b>besides (<\/b>in addition to) basketball and football.<\/li>\n<li><b>Besides (<\/b>in addition to) being a good speaker, he is also an excellent actor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Since and for<\/h3>\n<p>This is another set of prepositions often confused by foreign students.\u00a0<b>Since\u00a0<\/b>refers to the starting point of an action. It means \u2018from a particular point of time in the past\u2019 and it should be used with the present perfect tense of the verb.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He has been absent\u00a0<b>since<\/b>\u00a0last Monday. (NOT He is absent since last Monday.)<\/li>\n<li>It has been raining continuously\u00a0<b>since\u00a0<\/b>yesterday morning. (NOT It is raining since yesterday morning.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>For<\/b>\u00a0is used to talk about duration. It refers to a period of time.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I have been waiting here\u00a0<b>for\u00a0<\/b>two hours.<\/li>\n<li>We have been living here\u00a0<b>for\u00a0<\/b>three years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A common mistake is to use\u00a0<b>since<\/b>\u00a0when referring to a period of time. You must not say \u2018He has been absent since two days\u2019 or \u2018I have been studying since two hours.\u2019<\/p>\n<h3>Between and among<\/h3>\n<p>We use\u00a0<b>between\u00a0<\/b>to say that somebody or something is between two or more clearly separate objects.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You have to choose\u00a0<b>between<\/b>\u00a0these two options.<\/li>\n<li>I stood\u00a0<b>between\u00a0<\/b>John and Peter.<\/li>\n<li>They marched up the aisle\u00a0<b>between<\/b>\u00a0the pillars.<\/li>\n<li>He shared his money\u00a0<b>between\u00a0<\/b>his wife, his daughter and his son.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Among<\/b>\u00a0is used with more than two people or things.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The British were able to conquer India because the Indian princes quarreled\u00a0<b>among<\/b>\u00a0themselves.<\/li>\n<li>The United Nations tries to maintain peace\u00a0<b>among<\/b>\u00a0the nations of the world.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>By and with<\/h3>\n<p><b>By\u00a0<\/b>is used to refer to the doer of an action;\u00a0<b>with<\/b>\u00a0is used to refer to the instrument with which the action is done.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He was killed\u00a0<b>by his servant.<\/b><\/li>\n<li>He was killed\u00a0<b>with an axe.<\/b><\/li>\n<li>The tiger was shot\u00a0<b>by me with my new gun.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>In and At<\/h3>\n<p><b>In<\/b>\u00a0is generally used to refer to large places \u2013 countries, districts, large cities etc.\u00a0<b>At\u00a0<\/b>is generally used to refer to small and unimportant places like villages, small towns etc.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We shall meet them<b>\u00a0at the club<\/b>\u00a0this evening.<\/li>\n<li>My brother lives\u00a0<b>at Mumbai.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This rule is not very rigidly followed now, and<b>\u00a0in<\/b>\u00a0is often used for small places too, though\u00a0<b>at<\/b>\u00a0is seldom used for big places.<\/p>\n<h3>On, in, at and by<\/h3>\n<p>While speaking about time\u00a0<b>at<\/b>\u00a0indicates an exact point of time,\u00a0<b>on\u00a0<\/b>a more general point of time and\u00a0<b>in<\/b>\u00a0a period of time.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I shall be there\u00a0<b>at 4 pm.<\/b><\/li>\n<li>We set out\u00a0<b>at dawn.<\/b><\/li>\n<li>I was born\u00a0<b>on May 26.<\/b><\/li>\n<li>The postman brought this letter\u00a0<b>in the morning.<\/b><\/li>\n<li>I shall visit them<b>\u00a0in summer.<\/b><\/li>\n<li>It is very hot\u00a0<b>in the day\u00a0<\/b>and quite cold\u00a0<b>at night.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Note that \u2018at night\u2019 is an exception to this rule.<\/p>\n<p><b>By\u00a0<\/b>is used to show the latest time at which an action will be finished. So it is usually used with the future tenses.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I shall be leaving\u00a0<b>by 6 o\u2019 clock.<\/b><\/li>\n<li>I hope to finish the work\u00a0<b>by the end of this year.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>On and upon<\/h3>\n<p><b>On\u00a0<\/b>is generally used to talk about things at rest and\u00a0<b>upon\u00a0<\/b>to talk about things in motion.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He sat\u00a0<b>on a chair.<\/b><\/li>\n<li>He jumped\u00a0<b>upon his horse.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>However, this rule is not rigidly followed now, and\u00a0<b>on\u00a0<\/b>is often used to talk about things in motion too.<\/p>\n<h3>In and within (time)<\/h3>\n<p><b>In<\/b>\u00a0means at the end of a certain period;\u00a0<b>within<\/b>\u00a0means before the end of a certain period.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The spacecraft will reach the moon<b>\u00a0in three days<\/b>. (= at the end of three days)<\/li>\n<li>The spacecraft will reach the moon\u00a0<b>within three days.\u00a0<\/b>(= before the end of three days)<\/li>\n<li>The loan should be repaid<b>\u00a0in a year.<\/b><\/li>\n<li>The loan should be repaid\u00a0<b>within a year<\/b>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Note that this distinction too is not always kept and<b>\u00a0in\u00a0<\/b>is often used for\u00a0<b>within<\/b>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Though the prepositions are small words, they are very important ones, and their correct usage is a test of your mastery of the language. This article explains the correct usage of some prepositions that&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2736,2735,2738,2737,691,492],"class_list":["post-74169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-beside-and-besides","tag-between-and-among","tag-by-and-with","tag-in-and-on","tag-prepositions","tag-since-and-for"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74170,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74169\/revisions\/74170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}